A Math Teacher's Life Summed Up By The Gifted Students He Mentored

A biologist at Harvard was chatting with a colleague about a mentor who pushed him to do harder math problems. It turns out the colleague had the same mentor — and so did many others.

by Joe PalcaApr 7, 20196 minutes

Wheeler still owns the Hungarian Rubik's Cube that Berzsenyi gave him. Berzsenyi also gave one to Jimmy Wilson.Source: Meredith Rizzo

George Berzsenyi is a retired math professor living in Milwaukee County. Most people have never heard of him.

But Berzsenyi has had a remarkable impact on American science and mathematics. He has mentored thousands of high school students, including some who became among the best mathematicians and scientists in the country.

I learned about Berzsenyi from a chance conversation with a scientist named Vamsi Mootha.

In the late 1980s, when Mootha was in high school in Beaumont, Texas, he won a science fair. A few days later, a letter arrived in the mail.